News & Events

Social Media Spend Up 60% Year-Over-Year

by Larissa Faw, MediaPost Staff Writer

In Q1 2021, marketers spent 60% more on Facebook and Instagram advertising compared to Q1 2020, according to new research from Socialbakers. Its quarterly trends report notes ad reach for both platforms is also up, +8% globally and +23% in North America for the last 12 months.

Advertising costs grew 37% as ads space became more competitive. This is particularly true in North America, where ad costs grew 32% between 2020 and 2021.

More than half of advertising revenue was generated from the Facebook News Feed (57%), followed by the Instagram Feed (16%) and Instagram Stories (9%).

Certain industries flocked to social media during the past few months, specifically the auto sector, which increased ad spend by +102% year-over-year, the alcohol industry by +81%, and ecommerce by +66%. Fashion companies increased ad spend by +52%, while beauty was only up +20%.

In Q1 2021, the total audience size of the 50 biggest brand profiles was +40.3% bigger on Instagram than Facebook. Instagram’s audience grew 10.3% year-over-year while Facebook posted a meager +0.8% increase. Engagement also remained strong on Instagram which has 22.7x more interactions than Facebook while 53.7% of all brand posts were on Facebook.

However, influencer sponsorships struggled in Q1 2021, down 15% from 2020. While the past holiday season did boost collaborations, the year-over-year comparison reveals just how much influencer marketing has been impacted by the pandemic, a trend that’s likely to continue until the world opens up to free movement.

The original article is here